Record winter warmth

It was a very warm day across the plains on the 30th of January. Many record temperatures were set across the central plains. Norfolk, NE warmed to 67 degrees, Lincoln, NE reached to 70 degrees, and Omaha, Ne touched 69 degrees.

Across Iowa there were numerous reports as well. Des Moines, Ia reached 67 degrees for a new record. It was the 2nd warmest day ever recorded in January for Des Moines. I believe it was the first time that the temperature reached 67 in Des Moines twice during the same January, the previous 67 degrees occurred on the 5th of January, 2012, this year. Sioux City warmed to 65 degrees, Ottumwa was 65 and Lamoni warmed to 63 degrees.

It was just about as pleasant further east as Rockford, Il tied there previous record high on this date of 52 degrees. Moline and Peoria both set records at 60 degrees. Peoria's previous record high was 56 degrees on this date back in 1988. St Louis, Mo tied its previous record high of 67 degrees. Today will still be quite mild relatively speaking across the central plains, but record highs will be more difficult to reach today as the record seems to be much higher than on the 30th of the month? Peoria's record high is 70 degrees, Rockford's is 63 and Springfield, Il is 69 degrees.

We are forecasting highs in central Illinois to reach the low 60s today and the low to mid 50s across northern Illinois. Temperatures could easily warm to the mid to upper 50s across Iowa but again most of the previous record highs are in the 60s today. A potentially heavy snowstorm could be developing toward the end of this week.

One model says heavy snow for northern Ks and another model points to heavy snow further north in Nebraska on Friday and early Saturday and eventually maybe northern Ia. Some heavier thunderstorms may push eastern across Mo into Ar, Tn, Ms, Al and Ga, Saturday and Sunday.